All Mine
by Desktop Warrior
Summary: In this world, everything can be bought for the right price. Lawrence-centric.


**All Mine**

He walked with a sure step on the cobblestone path, the smallest hint of a smile playing on his slim features. With a gaze more detached than it was imperious, his deep blue eyes regarded the magnificent harmony of nature and architecture that was his estate. Lush gardens bordered the property immediately surrounding the manse, so that the building itself was but a red and white speck in a sea of swirling greens. He had spared no expense in transforming what had once been a barren wasteland into an ecosystem as vibrant as any of the mythical Shaymin's Gardens. In particular, he loved the tulips. He had cultivated whole acres of yellow tulips on the estate, directly imported from the Far West, and admired the flowers for their tenacity. No matter the season, they persevered, maintaining their beautiful colour and shape all the while.

However, he had no time to stop this morning. He had been planning for this day for years, and had only come to the manse to retrieve an item of utmost importance to his latest endeavour. His residence was an elegant structure of whitewashed walls capped by red terracotta roofs. Ornate pillars decorated the sides and held up wide, shady verandas. Here, there were plants too: rare tropical specimens that were more plentiful here than in their natural habitat. The plants were held in enormous clay urns, carefully preserved artefacts of an ancient civilization. And this did not even scratch the surface of his collection; it was barely a glimpse of the wonders which lay inside.

But the greatest of his marvels lay in plain sight. Floating just a few metres above the building was an airship large enough to hold several city blocks. Its core consisted of a sphere, bare metal save for a band of windows extended around its circumference. A thick spire at the top led up to an elliptical observation deck, where he would be doing most of his work today. On the opposite pole, a shorter spire jutted out from the bottom, culminating in a long conical edge with a hemispherical base. Below that was a much narrower tower. It was small in comparison to the rest of the ship, but it contained a most vital component: the firepower. What made the airship a behemoth, though, was the vast engine system that supported it. Two vertically parallel rings jutted out of the main body, attached to it by beams that gently sloped toward the centre. Further support was provided by another set of beams, these ones straight. At the end of each beam was a set of dual rotors, one moving clockwise, the other counter-clockwise.

It was grandiose, ambitious, advanced. Truly, he thought, a worthy reflection of himself. But then, this was true in all aspects of his life. Nothing but the best would do for a collector like himself.

His valet, impeccably dressed as usual in that fine suit, waited in front of the polished hardwood doors. He noted with pleasure that the doors had already been swung open in anticipation of his arrival, an opulent reception hall visible within.

"I trust everything is ready, Jonathan," he said in his soft unctuous voice. He did not pause as he spoke to his valet, displaying only the courtesy to look him in the eye.

"Yes, Master Girardin," the valet answered, gruffly but respectfully, his silver walrus moustache curling. The man's wavy hair rippled slightly as a soft breeze blew by.

"Ah, Jonathan," he said with a chuckle. "I've told you before, you may call me Lawrence…" His voice trailed off as he went inside.

Stunning as the reception hall was, it was humble compared to the rooms that lay deeper within. With a soft push, he opened another set of smaller mahogany doors. This room was one of his particular favourites, he mused. Millions had gone into building the electronic panels which covered the walls and ceiling. The panels used liquid crystal technology to create a panoramic image of anything he desired. Even more artefacts were stored here, the most valuable of which were kept under cases of diamond sheet. Thus, they would be preserved for all eternity.

It was a shame he couldn't stay here. But other, far more valuable treasures awaited. The thought filled him with anticipation as he made his way deeper into the manse. The treasures he had accumulated – the millennia-old amphorae, the priceless jewellery, the unique artefacts from all corners of the globe – were trifles compared to his latest project.

He reached into the fold of his lavender silken robe and fingered his Mew card. It had all started from there. His first passion, he recalled with a momentary twinge of nostalgia. The start of a collection the likes of which no human had ever attained: not those Kings of Kings of the great mountain empires, nor the Heavenly Stewards of the central realms, nor those Island Conquerors at the ends of the earth. He had learned a lot since then, becoming familiar with the ways of the world and the opportunities available to him. The most important thing he had realized was that everything in the world could be bought for the right price. All it took was a certain amount of money to transform desire into reality, whether it was this luxurious manse in the Orange Islands, an aerial fortress equipped with the latest technology, or the convenient removal of minor obstructions. He finished that last thought with a chuckle, recalling for an instant that government official – what was his name again – who had so relentlessly pursued him. All it had taken was the soft _swish-swish_ the bills made as he counted them with his fingers. Soon afterward, the official had hurriedly submitted his resignation, and was now enjoying an early retirement at his new beach house on Mossdeep Isle.

He opened one final pair of doors, these ones square and made of cold gray steel. Not the most pleasing sight, aesthetically, but a necessity nonetheless. After all, what lay beyond needed to be protected. He took a step into the enormous circular room. Today, the tall, dome-shaped ceiling had been opened into eight triangular sides. The view of the sky he normally had was completely covered by his airship. He had ordered the ship to be designed precisely this way: a straight line, starting from the top, would extend all the way down and line up perfectly with the centre of the domed room.

At the very centre of this room lay the most important piece of information he needed for his endeavour. It was a crude stone tablet, held up on a pedestal and covered in a glass cube. It was for this that he had returned to the manse. It was his guide, he thought as he walked up to the tablet. His eyes fell on a panel next to the raised structure. The panel had two buttons, one yellow and one green, and a lever. Narrowing his eyes, he pressed the yellow button. The floor underneath him rumbled as four metal walls emerged from the white tile, forming a box around himself and the tablet. He tilted his head to look up at the ship. As expected, the metal square that would form the roof of the box was already being lowered down by a series of thick cables. In a matter of minutes, the roof was covering his box, encasing him in darkness. He pressed the green button; the roof began to emanate a soft golden light, created by the same liquid crystal technology in the room behind the reception hall.

Now, it was fully assembled. With a graceful move of his hand, he pulled the lever. With nary a hiccup, his elevator began the long ascent to the airship. The only noise to disturb him was the low hum of the engine as it lifted him off the ground.

It was all going quite smoothly. There was but one issue, which had arisen while reading the ancient tablet. A negligible matter, really, which had not caused him even the slightest concern. It was the furthest thing from his mind as he pressed the yellow button a second time, the walls withdrawing back into the floor. With slight effort, he pushed the display off the tiled floor of the elevator and onto the metal of the airship's lower chamber. This was a bare room of metal walls that slanted inward, so as to conform to the shape of the weaponry that had been installed on the other side. It was silent now, but he knew that once the chase was on, the sound of cannons firing would be deafening. He intended to stay in this place as little as possible.

A disembodied female voice cut through the silence, slow and artificial: "Returning lift to base. Command station is set to descend to lower chamber."

"Excellent," he answered softly, admiring what was by far the ship's most advanced feature. The ship had been given a modicum of artificial intelligence. In addition to having a voice of its own, it responded to his own voice, no matter how softly he spoke or in which part of the ship he was. The engines hummed again, and the walls of the elevator came back up, attaching to the roof once more. The entire apparatus then began its descent back to the ground. Moments later, his command station was in sight. A thick piston of marble appeared as the cables descended, at the top of which was a circular dais with a wide but simple throne in the centre. To the right side of the throne was a complicated array of buttons, knobs, and switches.

He gently pushed the display case onto the dais, then sat in the throne and pressed one of the buttons to go up. The time had finally come. In a matter of hours, his collection would be truly legendary. The glyphs on the tablet said as much. He gave it another glance, reciting those words in his clear flowing voice, as he had done countless times before:

"_Disturb not the Harmony of Fire, Ice, and Lightning_

_Lest these Titans wreak Destruction upon the World in which they clash._

_Though the Water's great Guardian shall arise to quell the Fighting_

_Alone its Song will fail, thus the Earth shall turn to Ash._"

The dais stopped its ascent in the main chamber, a space equal in opulence to any room he had in his stationary residence below. The floor was made of green marble and polished to a fine sheen. The walls sloped up to a dome with a circular hole at the peak, the entire ceiling covered in frescoes depicting scenes of heaven. The painting was so lifelike that he could almost feel the angels' eyes upon him, watching his every move. A few choice artefacts, some of his personal favourites, dotted the chamber haphazardly, safe in their diamond display cases. Tall windows stretched around the circumference, bathing the entire scene in the cold glare of morning sunlight. He made a quick glance of his surroundings, then continued to read:

"_O Chosen One!_

_Into thine Hands bring together all Three._

_Their Treasures combined_

_Tame the Beast of the Sea._"

It portended grave consequences indeed, ones that could affect the entire world. Consequences, he thought. What could one acquire in life without consequences? Far more than a mere prophecy could affect the world. And for someone in his position, with his endless resources and reserves of capital, such things were as nothing. It did not matter what happened: the end result was always the same.

_The world is all mine._

He spoke to himself again, softly but surely: "Now it…begins."


End file.
